The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-04
ADVENTURES OF AMATEUR CLIMB
ERs IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

A Party of "Tsnderfeet" tho Noun
tain Top-After . Tiresome Journey.
An Approaching storm-A Scene OF
wondrous Beauty.
That's twister," said the gentleman from
Kansas. "You mountain connOiseurs may
not grasp at once the full meaning of the ver-
nacular of the plains, but i wish TO say, as
emphatically as I can without swearing, that
there is a twister with the corkscrew end
down, and if there is . dugout i'm this vicinity
I think we had better creep in" Saying this
he pointed with a cyclonic twisting motion of
his extended arm toward an ugly looking
black cloud fiaring out above and on either
side of Cameron's cone; pointed to the forked
chain lightning, every bolt Of which seemed
to strike ON the face of the mountain cone
like a fifty ton sledge hammer, with a sound
every time as though the thunderbolt had
sent the rocks crashing down steep incline
of 1000 or 3 900 feet; to a darkening mist, a
shadowy uncertainty that seemed to fall be-
tween the cloud and where the party stood,
and with memory of cyclones in his mind the
man from Kansas insisted that If the fellows
did not seek shelter at once they ought to he
in an insane asylum.
AN APPROACHING STORM
Crystal park, more than 1000 feet above
Manitou, looking of at a storm approaching
rapidly from the direction of Pixies peak.
They were "tenderfeet,' all of them They
were new to the mountains; were bankers
and lawyers and merchants who had climbed
that forenoon to the little vale nesting at the
very top of Hiawatha mountain, hidden, as
it were, between the top of one ridge and the
higher elevation of Cameron's cone. The
natives had told them that it was three miles
up, but they had scrambled ul steep ascents,
climbed along the new trail for three hours
under the impression that they had Travelled
i'm that one forenoon fifteen miles. They he'd
exalted in every step they had taken. From
twenty different points they had the most
magnificent view.
Winding about the highest point of Hia-
watha mountain they had got glimpse of
Pixies peak in the forenoon sunlight that was
worth in itself thousand miles journey.
They had seen Manitou and all the country
about it, the picturesque canyons, the Garden
of the Gods, the near and distant ranges from
points of vantage, and with these picturesque
views constantly before them, with the new
experience Of looking down dizzy heights, of
plucking brilliantly colored mountain flowers,
of taking in the odorous sweet and buoyant
air, they had climbed and climbed over and
around rocks, following the unexpected twists
and turns of the mountain trail, until at last
they crossed the summit, left the region Of
pines, walked with not little bewilderment
into group Of mountain aspens, came first
ON the ideal mountain spring throwing a
crystal flood across a mountain meadow, and
then upon a huge log house with tents built
about it, and with hammocks swung to the
trees. This they were told was Crystal park.
DOWN THE TRAIL.
After such an old fashioned dinner as they
had not found elsewhere in Colorado, they
had started down the old trail on the return
trip to Manitou-the mountain ranchmen of
eastern antecedents assuring them that it
would not rain during the afternoon Not
200 yards away, before they had emerged
from the aspen grove, the gentleman from
Kansas broke out with his remarks upon the
cyclonic impulses of the coming storm.
There was a minutes debate, when an ex-
member of the Nebraska legislature moved
the previous question, and the whole crowd
went at a rapid walk toward the ranchmans
house.
just as they stepped inside there came a
roaring in the air, and, without further
warning, from every direction storm Of
hail and rain. Hail stones large and round
came in drifts down the mountain side, roll
ing like circles of snow; came in whirls from
III
abundance that in five minutes the ground,
the mountains, the houses were covered with
two or three inches of solid, shining crystals,
for after this tremendous pelting of hailstones
the cloud broke away, or was torn away
from the mountain top and the sun shone out
in splendor, and the twister had come and
gone.
AN ENHANCING SIGHT
The mountain cone that had five minutes
before been shrouded in whirling storm
cloud now stood bright and clear against the
buest sky that one can see anywhere in
America On the other side the fury of the
storm, made darker by the brightness of the
SUM- moved away to the east In five min
utes the mountain trail was dry enough for
good walking although the drift of hail
stones remained in places for half an hour
longer. But the storm had come and gone
and the party followed it down the old trail
toward Manitou. Coming to the point where
the road turns to give an unobstructed view
of the plains below, the leader stopped with
the exclamation: Look at that"
Below him were the plains with Colorado
City and Colorado Springs in the distance and
Manitou in the foreground, but not any
one had ever seen them before. Sweeping
over the wide extent of country visible from
this elevated point was the storm that had
left the mountain clad in crystals. Below it,
or beyond it, the extent of plain was one
great rainbow. The colors, vivid, sharp and
brilliant, were laid in magnificent belts across
the plain, SO that what would have been a
monotonous picture fading i'll the distance,
was dressed in rainbow hues. The effect was
like that of a mirage in that Colorado
Springs, with its symmetrical squares,
seemed to bend upward as if built on a
cone. For an hour as the men strode down
the mountain trail toward Manitou this pic
ture in rainbow colors was before them,
while behind them were the mountains clad
in a mixture of crystal and green.-Chicago
Inter Ocean.